Judge Threatened After Marine Le Pen Verdict: 76-Year-Old Man Taken Into Custody

The suspect allegedly posted a guillotine image and insults on social media

The judge has been under police protection since the March verdict

A 76-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, April 8, in La Garenne-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) by Paris’s judicial police. He is suspected of threatening Bénédicte de Perthuis, the presiding judge of the 11th criminal chamber of the Paris Judicial Court, who recently sentenced Marine Le Pen to five years of ineligibility, including two years of suspended prison time to be served under electronic monitoring.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the suspect allegedly posted an offensive message on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), targeting the judge and featuring an image of a guillotine—raising serious concerns within the judicial community.

A serious case of intimidation

The man was taken into custody and is being investigated for “death threats or dangerous threats against a magistrate” and for “contempt of a public official in the exercise of their duties.” The inquiry, led by the Brigade for the Repression of Crime Against Persons (BRDP), comes amid a surge in threats targeting magistrates involved in Le Pen’s recent trial.

Since the verdict was handed down on March 31, several members of the court, including the presiding judge, have been subjected to threatening messages and online abuse. Authorities have responded by providing enhanced security for the judge, including regular police patrols near her home.

Multiple suspects already identified

Paris’s chief public prosecutor, Marie-Suzanne Le Quéau, recently confirmed that five individuals have been identified in connection with threats made against two magistrates from the prosecution team. It remains unclear whether the man detained on Tuesday is among those five.

Another ongoing investigation, launched earlier this year, concerns threats made via the far-right website Riposte Laïque, following the public prosecutor’s closing arguments during the Le Pen trial. These threats also targeted the presiding judge and the two prosecutors. After a request to transfer the case from the Paris prosecutor’s office, the investigations are now being handled by the prosecutor of Bobigny, who is overseeing both cases involving cyberharassment and public threats against judicial figures.